nene

(also ‘Hawaiian goose’)

a kind of bird – belongs to the duck – related to the ‘Canada goose’ – medium-sized goose with grey-brown barred feathers on the neck and back, and black feathers on the face, and black beak and legs, long legs, short wings, half webbed feet (= with  thin layer of skin joining toes) with long toes; size: 1½-2 feet long, and weight: 1½-2 Kg; feeds on (eats) plant matter seeds, flowers, fruit of plants and grasses; lives for 20-30 years; originally from Hawaiian Islands of the United States of America

Special Features:

The ‘nene or Hawaiian goose’ is the state bird of Hawai’i, USA.

The name ‘nene’ is onomatopoeic, i.e. this goose is given its name ‘nene’ after its soft call “nay… nay”.

The nene is the world’s rarest goose: though it is a water bird, it spends most of the time on land; it has short wings, so most of the time it walks on the ground; it has only half webbed long legs with long toes which help it to walk on the hard dry land; and it feeds on plant matter!  {Most geese have short legs with completely webbed feet, and most of them eat insects and the small animals found in the water.}

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